The Guilty
by ShadowOfApate
Summary: BTVS/DS9/XWP/HP/Eragon/ER. Willow gets pulled into another dimension by the First. Now several people from different dimensions must join together in a battle that will change time.


Title : The Guilty

Chapter : One

Pairing : J/G, KW/KL, HP/CC, WR/TM, O/K

Fandom : Xena The Warrior Princess, Buffy the  
Vampire Slayer, Star Trek Deep Space Nine,  
Eragon, Harry Potter, ER

Rating : PG-13

Spoilers : Season Five

Beta Reader : Sue Ellen

Summary : When The First Evil's fail safe  
threatens not only Willow's universe, but  
several others. A group of complete strangers  
must work together and face what they fear the  
most to save the world.

Disclaimer : All characters belong to their  
creators.

-----------  
Chapter One  
-----------

Joxer stared in shock at the dead body lying at  
his feet. Beside him the eight year old girl was  
shaking and crying for her lost innocence.

Somehow in the daze of shock, Joxer's brain  
managed to engage enough to remind him that he  
was in Rome. A place where they didn't care about  
the why's or where fore's.

If you killed, whether you were a child, or  
whether it was self defense. Then you paid.

" I did it. " Joxer choked out to the massive  
Roman solider standing before him.

" Oh? " The captain responded, his dark neutral  
eyes on the tiny kid. " Funny. I thought it was  
the cry baby. "

" No. It was me. " Joxer insisted.

" Look, I'm not stupid, I know..."

Joxer swung wildly at the solider. He couldn't  
just let the eight year old that reminded him so  
much of himself at that age have her life ruined.

" Son of a b..." The captain ducked and slammed  
into him in a flying tackle. " Fine. You want to  
take the rap, then you'll take it. "

Joxer's last clear memory was a meaty fist flying  
at his face.

------------  
One Year Later  
------------

The lean, compact but muscular warrior pushed  
himself tighter into the shadowed corner. His  
finely defined muscles were shaking from long  
hours of hard labor.

The once scarless pale skin had long since  
been turned into a dark brown tanned surface,  
marred by scars and welts.

The one time clumsy body was now forced into  
a constant gracefulness. It being more from  
survival than want.

" What about this one? " A new voice asked.

" He was sent through the portal a year ago."

" He knows the area? " The female voice  
demanded.

" They all do. "

" Fine. I'll take him. "

" I'm afraid that this one is still not  
broken. Perhaps another..."

" I'll take this one. " The voice reaffirmed.

" My lady..."

" Is there a problem, Commander? "

" A lady traveling alone is not capable of  
handling such a slave. "

" I will take this one, Commander. Do I  
make myself clear? "

" Of course, my lady. I never meant to  
question you, I was simply..."

Willow Rosenberg kneeled by the slave,  
her emerald eyes running over his weary  
form.

When she'd followed the small army of  
uber vamps into the portal she'd been  
surprised to find herself in a different  
time and dimension.

The next surprise had been the discovery  
that someone from a third dimension had  
been sending prisoners through to the magic  
filled world.

When she'd tried to find and rescue the  
unfortunates though, she'd found all but  
the one before her already dead.

" My names Willow. " She whispered softly.  
Just low enough that no one else could hear  
her. " I'm from another world, like you. "

The twenty something man lifted his head  
to stare into her eyes. The bloodshot pupils  
eyeing her for some hint as to the truth.

" Why? "

" No one deserves this fate. " When the  
man didn't say anything else, she continued.  
" Look you don't belong in this world,  
and it's interfering with my tracking certain  
... unsavory elements. "

The brown haired man seemed to relax with  
those words. " I'm Joxer. "

" Hello, Joxer. It's nice to meet you. "  
The red head pulled lightly at the mans arm.  
" Now, what do you say we get out of here? "

" Best plan I've ever heard. "

Willow ducked under one of his arms, and  
placed her arm around his waist. She wanted  
to get as far away from the small town as  
possible.

The whole dimension gave her one big  
case of the nerves, but the towns were even  
worse.

Every moment felt like there was something,  
or someone just waiting to jump her.

The fact that there was about thirty uber  
vamps out there gathering an army of bad guys  
had nothing to do with it, of course.

Nor was the fact that they had what was  
left of Glory's minions, and Ben's body.

No, neither of those reasons were  
responsible. It was the fact that she hadn't  
figured out exactly what they were up to.  
The fact that she hadn't been able to  
catch up with them, muchless stop them  
yet.

It was the dead bodies that she seemed  
to be constantly following. The way the  
magic in this strange dimension seemed  
all consuming, threatening to drown her  
at any second.

There was fear that she might become  
overloaded on the dark magic that caused  
her nightmares each short night.

A fear that she would betray her  
Tara's memory even more than she already  
had.

" Who are you searching for? " Joxer  
finally asked as they cleared the prison.

" The bad guys. " At Joxer's cocked  
eye brow, she sighed. " Super Vampires,  
monsters, the body of a dead hell goddess. "

" Oh. I suppose it's for a good cause? "

" Always. "

" Then I'll help. " Joxer said softly.

Willow paused mid-step to glance at him  
in surprise. " It's not your fight. "

" No. It's everyones fight. " He replied.

" You're a good guy. " She answered.

" So where do we start? " He asked.

" You don't. "

Willow and Joxer glanced at each other then  
turned to the new voice.

Elf, was the first thought in her mind. Lots  
of elves if the loose circle forming around  
them was anything to go by.

The fact that they were all armed to the  
teeth, and looking as though they would  
gladly kill her and Joxer wasn't helping any.

" We won't? " She asked, hoping to get the  
guy to talk.

" No. You'll come with us. "

" Oh. Well, it's nice of you to ask, but  
I'm afraid we're kind of busy, so we'll just  
be on our way. " Willow started as a  
particularly sharp sword was shoved in her  
face. " On second thought, we could spare a  
few minutes. "

" I thought you'd see things my way. " The  
elf said, motioning to the other elves.

Willow sighed heavily. It would figure that  
things wouldn't go smoothly for her. It would  
also figure that a whole new set of problems  
would make themselves known before the old  
set could be taken care of.

" Are things always like this? " Joxer  
asked finally able to walk on his own.

" Nope. Usually it's worse. " She peeked  
at him from the corner of her eye. " I take  
it you're not new to this sort of thing. "

" No. I spent a lot of time traveling  
with Hercules and Xena. This is what they  
do. What about you? "

" For me it's a slayer named Buffy. "

" I thought slayers were just myths. "

" I thought the same about Xena and  
Hercules. " She shot back. " Either way  
I'm glad to have you on my team. "

Joxer's smile faltered, his dark brown  
eyes turning stone serious. " I doubt  
you'll think that long. I'm...I'm not  
much of a warrior. "

Willow shrugged. It wasn't a big deal.  
Xander wasn't much of a warrior either,  
but he was still a lot of help. He kept  
them sane, he proved to be loyal no  
matter what. " We all have our strengths  
and weakness's. "

" You mean it? You don't care? "

" Of course I care, you're a potential  
friend, and being a warrior seems to be  
something important to you, so it's now  
important to me. " Willow smiled brightly  
at the shocked and hopeful man.

" I...I promise to do my best. "

" That's all anyone can ask. "

Willow turned from her new friend, and  
glanced around. Leaving the city behind  
she just knew that they were in for a long  
walk.

-----------

The cave dwelling city stretched out before  
the two friends. The elves were moving rapidly  
through the cobblestone streets, and into the  
various business's.

Each with it's own distinct coloring and  
design. The signs written in a language neither  
warrior was familiar with, but both assumed was  
the language of the elf.

They seemed to be but a passing curiosity to  
the race living around them. Even the elf soldiers  
had wondered off as though they could care less  
about the fate of two humans.

" Come, we run out of time. "

Willow noticed the elf was now walking in  
front of them. No longer bothering with weapons  
or threats. " Gee, what a warm welcome. "

" At least their not shoving swords into  
our back now. " Joxer muttered softly.

" Yeah. Big improvement. "

She stepped into a small, almost plain building  
near the cave entrance. Her emerald eyes running  
over the inside.

The main part of the inside was a large uncarpeted  
living room. The majority of the side wall a blazing  
fireplace. Several shelves were on the wall opposite  
of the door.

The top shelves held three swords that just  
screamed magic. The next shelf, however, was  
what caught her attention. Three jewel like  
stones set on it.

Each stone was at least a foot long and looked  
hollow. A marble colored design ran over them. Two  
of a dark, blood red and black. The third was a  
dark amber and pearl white.

The oval shapes drew her across the room until  
her hand burned and itched, demanding that she  
touch the blood red stone closet to her.

Beside her, she could see Joxer already picking  
up the amber stone. His entire face lit up with  
a peace that made her chest ache.

A soft squeak interrupted the quiet and made  
her take a step back from her own stone.

" Um Joxer, I...I think you should put the  
stone down. "

Again a squeak erupted from the now vibrating  
rock. This time louder, more insisted.

" What's happening? " He asked, obeying her  
orders.

" I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about  
it. "

Joxer backed away from the stone with cracks  
running down it. Each one getting longer and  
longer as each second passed.

Before he could take another step though  
a hand appeared out of the stone. Then a head  
followed.

" It's a dragon. " Willow muttered softly.

Joxer quickly made his way back to it, his  
hands pulling the cracked parts away.

" Are you crazy? Don't do that. You don't  
know what it could do to you. " Willow warned  
wearily.

He shrugged off his new friends concern.  
" It's a baby. "

" I don't care, it could still be dangerous."

Joxer ignored her warning and touched the  
tiny, kitten sized creature. His hand going  
cold was the last thing he was aware of.

-----------

" I told you. I told you to leave the egg  
alone, but did you listen? No. You just had  
to help the cute little dragon. " Willow  
glared once again at the smug elf standing  
in the corner. " And you... You knew this  
would happen, but instead of doing the  
decent thing and warning us, you just had  
to let the dragon do it's thing. "

" I did as I thought best. " The elf  
answered, his crystal grey eyes locked  
on the sight of a now sleeping Joxer  
with the equally asleep baby dragon  
curled up in his arms. " In our society  
being chosen as a Dragon Rider is a  
great honor. "

" Yeah, well, that doesn't give you  
any excuse. Did it occur to you that  
maybe we didn't agree? "

" My lady, you must understand. The  
great elf seer of the golden age once  
spoke of three off worlders who would  
come here to battle a great evil. "

" What's your point? " She demanded.

" According to Queen Istabul, the  
three dragons eggs would choose the  
warriors. A necessary gift to aid  
them in their fight against The First. "

" Well, in case you didn't notice  
there are two of us. Not three, two. "

" Yet, your companion was chosen. "

" It was a mistake. " Willow insisted.

" There can never be a mistake. "

Willow frowned at the elf. She did not  
like him. Not one bit. The fact that he  
seemed determined to make her touch the  
egg she was drawn to wasn't helping her  
feelings any.

" Well since there's two of us, there  
must be a mistake. "

" The third simply hasn't arrived, yet. "

" Oh, and I suppose you know when he will  
arrive? "

" Yes. "

" Great, then when? "

" Now. "

Willow let out a bark of laughter. " Yeah,  
right. "

And then the world was upside down. Or at  
least the ceiling was...green?

She squinted up into the pair of emerald  
eyes identical to her own. A pair that only  
one other person owned. A person who was  
known for his ability to find trouble.

" Um...oops? " The emerald eyes asked.

" That's it, I'm going to kill you. "  
She responded.

The black haired teenager scrambled off  
her quickly, straightening his taped and  
broken glasses.

" You wouldn't. "

Willow allowed the shaggy haired youth  
to help her to her feet, then promptly  
grabbed hold of his left ear.

" Harold James Potter, you have exactly  
three seconds to explain what you're doing  
here, before I put you over my knee just  
for the principal of the situation. "

" I was worried. " He yelped. " The news  
kept talking about Sunnydale disappearing  
in an earth quake, so when I couldn't get  
a hold of you I decided to use a tracking  
spell. "

" I don't care. Do you have any idea how  
much danger you're in? Or what could have  
happened if I was lying dead in the middle  
of the crater? "

" You would do the same thing if it was  
me. " He shot back.

" Harry..."

" Don't Harry me. You're the only family  
I have left. Sirius was killed just a month  
ago. Our aunt is on the verge of throwing  
me on the street, and uncle Vernon..."

" Sirius? I..I didn't know. " Willow  
yanked her young brother into a tight  
hug. " I'm so sorry. "

" It's not your fault. You were busy with  
The First. "

" Still..." Willow felt the scrawny boy  
hugging her even tighter, as though he was  
afraid she would disappear on him. " You're  
right you know. If it was you, I'd pull the  
same stunt. "

" Told ya. " He muttered into her chest.

" Don't be a smart ass. " She answered.

" Too late. " Harry said, pulling away.

" I believe you are now three. " The elf  
interrupted.

Willow snapped around in shock. " No!!  
Absolutely not. "

" What? " Harry asked.

" He can't have a dragon. " She protested.

" I can have a dragon? " Harry asked.

" NO! "

" Yes. " The elf said at the same time.

Willow paused, and glanced at the two  
identical eggs that were left. It was strange  
how the two eggs were practically twins.

In their own way her and Harry were a lot  
alike. She looked almost identical to her  
mother. While Harry looked like a clone of  
their father, except for the eyes.

" Try touching the stone on the left. "  
She finally said.

She wanted nothing more than to protect  
the young boy, but she'd seen what that had  
done to Dawn and Buffy. She couldn't shield  
him, not when he was like her when it came  
to trouble.

Instead she watched as he brushed his  
fingers over the egg she'd said. As the  
egg began to move and shake she sighed  
wearily.

" It never ends. " She softly whispered,  
turning to her own egg.

-----------


End file.
